


Mistletoe

by forest_roses



Series: desert winds [5]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: 5+1 Things, Carlos and Cecil Palmer are Dorks, Christmas, Fluff, M/M, Married Carlos/Cecil Palmer, Merry Christmas!, Mistletoe, Oops, Typical Night Vale Weirdness, also i realized that cecil is jewish halfway through writing this, also please don't put sentient creatures in habitats, estaban isn't in this because i lowkey forgot to write him into the plot, ft. the world's least inventive fic name, i apologize for the discrepancy, i kept having to pause because i was laughing too hard, i really cracked myself up with this idea, no matter how nice the habitat is, thank you for an amazing first year on ao3, this is 5 times cecil caused a mistletoe kiss plus one time carlos did, this is my gift for all of you, this will make sense once you read the fic i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28283598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forest_roses/pseuds/forest_roses
Summary: A pattern has developed. Every doorway of their house seems to have mistletoe hanging in it. Carlos would be lying if he said he wasn’t amused by this, but the fact that the small white mistletoe berries have pupils which follow him as he walks around the rooms is a little disconcerting. (Also, very fascinating from a scientific standpoint.)Or: I just wanted to write some quick cute Cecilos fluff and then this happened. Merry Christmas!
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer
Series: desert winds [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1786606
Kudos: 30





	Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for such an amazing first year on ao3 (well, it'll be one year in April, but I started on here in 2020). I'm going to be a little sappy here, but I'm being honest when I say that the support I've received on here has been a huge part of what has made me start loving writing again for the first time in years. All of the comments, kudos, and bookmarks mean the world to me, and I wanted to give you all something to show my appreciation. I know 2020 has been a heck of a year, but here, have some happy Cecilos fluff, as a thank you gift from me to you.
> 
> Merry Christmas!

1.

Carlos blinks awake in the early morning, to see a sprig of mistletoe hanging precariously from the ceiling above him. Cecil has propped himself up on his elbows with his chin in his hands, and when he sees that Carlos is awake, he grins. “Happy Christmas Eve,” he says. Carlos smiles too, and ignores the fact that he has morning breath when he kisses Cecil (Cecil did hang up the mistletoe right above where he was sleeping, it’s his fault.)

2.

A pattern quickly develops. Every doorway of their house seems to have mistletoe hanging in it. Carlos would be lying if he said he wasn’t amused by this, but the fact that the small white mistletoe berries have pupils which follow him as he walks around the rooms is a little disconcerting. (Also, very fascinating from a scientific standpoint.) Before they walk out to the car- Carlos is driving Cecil to work today- Carlos pauses, and looks up at the doorway (the only one without mistletoe, as per City Council standards, which have banned mistletoe from home front doors since 1687) and kisses Cecil anyways.

When he gets home, Carlos finds a little Christmas card from Cecil on his desk in his laboratory (along with a purring Khoshekh, who has a small bed on the corner of the surface because without it he sleeps on Carlos’ papers.) Glitter falls out when he opens the envelope, and he has to spend several minutes cleaning it up before he can actually look at what is inside. It is a clumsily made pop-up card, which has partially fallen apart, but Carlos can still make out the little figures skating on top of a (worryingly red) skating rink. He decides to ignore the violation of their (mutually agreed upon) rule that Cecil doesn’t go into his laboratory without him, in favor of placing the card carefully upon a shelf above his desk, where it makes him smile every time he sees it.

3.

When Carlos goes to pick up Cecil from the radio station, he listens to the last ten minutes of the show while waiting in the parking lot. There are clouds in the sky, and they look like snow clouds, which is interesting, and slightly worrying, given that he is in a desert. He ponders the best way to conduct research on this matter until Cecil says his “goodnight, Night Vale, goodnight,” and then he gets out of the car and heads to the visitor’s entrance to the station. 

Cecil is already waiting in the doorway when Carlos walks up, and he grins again and looks up at the door frame. There is, of course, a sprig of mistletoe hanging there, and when they kiss, Carlos is unsurprised, and smiling, and so in love. 

4.

In hindsight, Carlos should have known something like this was coming. After all, he is a scientist, and a scientist should always be prepared- especially in Night Vale. Cecil stands next to him, looking up at the curling vines covering their house, and he seems fairly unaffected. He reaches out a hand to one of the moving tendrils, and the berries swivel dark pupils towards them. (They look disapproving. Carlos never knew mistletoe could roll its eyes before.)

Cecil turns to him, and before Carlos can go inside to get his various pieces of equipment to document this, he kisses him. At Carlos’ slight quizzical look, Cecil shrugs, looking up at the house, and says, “technically, it is above us.” 

Carlos’s smile this time is so wide that it’s almost a little alarming.

5.

Cecil brings hot chocolate to Carlos’ lab. Carlos is aware that this is a major safety violation, but it’s Christmas Day, so he chooses to overlook it, just this once. Carlos is putting the finishing touches on a small glass habitat for the mistletoe to live inside (there were a few pieces left when he managed to get most of it off of the house, and so he’s put a small tree and a tiny replica of the house inside the habitat, along with some sand and water, in the hopes that it will be comfortable within it. It would be unscientific to pass up such an opportunity for study as this.)

Cecil sits on a stool next to one of the lab tables, and watches Carlos finish his work. The air smells like hot chocolate, disinfectant, and some sort of spiced scent that is floating in from the kitchen, where their dinner (pot roast and pie) is in the oven. It’s a comforting, homey smell, and Carlos feels happier than he has in years as Cecil comes over, looks at the mistletoe Carlos is holding up to examine, and kisses him.

+1

It’s evening now, and the credits for a (genuinely terrible) Christmas movie are playing on the screen in front of Carlos. He pulls the blankets a little tighter around him, and watches the snow fall outside the window. Cecil is over by the side of the room, getting ready to do his Christmas broadcast. He sits down, and pulls his headphones over his ears, and finishes his vocal warm-ups before the on-air light on his desk lights up.

“Happy holidays, Night Vale! Now, listeners, I have been getting reports from a very trustworthy, intelligent, and handsome source...” Cecil looks at Carlos as he says this, and smiles,”... that the snow currently falling outside, while beautiful, is highly poisonous, and also generally uncommon for this desert. Please, for your own safety, stay inside today, preferably with your loved ones and a cup of hot cocoa!”

Carlos leans back on the couch, his eyes on the tv screen, but his mind on Cecil. He lets the evening’s horoscopes and editorials wash over him, and feels himself sink into a quiet state of mind. In the corner, Khoshekh is following the movement of the mistletoe’s waving tendrils with each of his eyes, and by the window, Cecil is gesturing animatedly about the City Council’s latest decree about the Dog Park.

An idea forms in Carlos’ head while Cecil is talking about Station Management’s new policy on contract renewals. He smiles to himself, and waits for Cecil to finish his tangent on the best Christmas music before he gets up.

  
Cecil looks up at Carlos as he walks over, and looks pleasantly surprised. “Oh!” he says, “listeners, Carlos is holding a sprig of mistletoe above my head! I believe it is fake, thankfully. I must address this situation now, so let’s go to the weather!”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much appreciated!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> (P.S. Mistletoe doesn't grow on vines, it grows on branches. However, whatever the thing that is called mistletoe in this fic really is, I think it's safe to assume it isn't very similar to the mistletoe you and I are familiar with.)


End file.
